Why You Need a Strong DMARC Policy for Email Authentication

DMARC policy is one of the tools that email senders use to authenticate their email.

Email authentication is important because it protects your subscribers from being harvested by spammers. If you’re receiving spam emails, chances are your subscribers are too. Spammers have figured out how to fool email servers so they look legitimate. They’ll hide behind an authenticated domain name, an anonym zed IP address or some other form of spoofing that looks real.

We’ve already covered the basics of DMARC in some detail. It has three components: a sending domain’s DMARC policy, a receiving domain’s DMARC policy and some additional servers, called record owners, that are used between the two domains to authenticate messages. Because the system works only on messages between two domains, it’s critical to link your sending domain with your receiving domain in order for it to work properly.

DMARC is a way for email servers to authenticate messages from other email servers. It’s a protection mechanism that makes sure messages get forwarded without being altered along the way.This is a lot like DNS, the technology that translates domain names into IP addresses. DMARC is meant to look up a hostname and work out whether it's valid or fraudulent.

The problem is, adoption of this specification has been slow, and too many DMARC policies have lenient settings, which means brands aren't taking advantage of its biggest benefits.

Let’s dive in and demystify DMARC so you can better understand how to get the most out of it.

The basics of DMARC

DMARC is the framework that allows email hosting providers to verify the authenticity of email messages they receive. The theory behind DMARC is that if an email service isn’t able to deliver messages, it should be able to tell you so. This means that mail servers must have a way to identify messages as coming from their own domain. If this rule is violated, it should be treated as an attack on the system and reported by the mail server so it can be healed.

SPF identifies where emails are originating from. If SPF is set correctly, the mail server will reject messages that are originated from other domains. This will stop people sending spam. DMARC adds another layer of defense to SPF by checking for the alignment of DKIM and DSN (Domain Suffixing Name). It’s important that these rules are set properly and all three components of DMARC must be in place in order for an email account to function properly.

To explain email authentication protocols briefly:

SPF is a list of hostnames and IP addresses published on your DNS that are approved to send mail for your domain.

DKIM involves an encrypted digital signature or private key that matches a public key on a domain’s DNS.

Both these protocols help validate messages and prevent forged emails from reaching the inbox. A DMARC policy sits on top of SPF and DKIM, combining the two for stronger authentication.

Imagine DMARC as the bouncer at an exclusive party: SPF is like the list of approved guests and DKIM is a VIP pass. If you aren’t on the list or don’t have the pass, you don’t get into the inbox.

The benefits of DMARC

For mailbox providers … DMARC provides information about how to filter messages that fail authentication. This is your domain’s DMARC policy. When mailbox providers are unclear how to handle unauthenticated messages, they may lean towards delivering them. That’s because recipients are often more upset about not receiving real emails than dealing with spam

For email recipients … DMARC makes the inbox a safer place because it prevents malicious phishing emails from getting delivered. Specifically, it stops emails with forged information in the "from" field of an email header.

For senders … DMARC also provides valuable reports on the IP addresses that are sending mail on behalf of your domain. This lets you monitor for brand spoofing and find out if legitimate emails are encountering authentication issues that impact deliverability.

You can’t know for certain that all of your legitimate email is being delivered to the inboxes of the people who are supposed to receive it. So it’s important to have a way to find out if anyone else is trying to use your domain to send spam.

Using DMARC, you can receive daily reports that tell you if any emails claiming to be from you are actually coming from a server that doesn’t have your permission. You can then decide what to do about it.

What is a DMARC policy?

Your DMARC policy is a record of how you want to be seen by the rest of the world, and it acts as the primary defense against the risk of spoofing. A DMARC record tells your registries that your domain can be trusted, and it allows them to make decisions on whether to accept messages from your domain.

A DMARC policy has a couple of important components: a header, which is a single line in a TXT file that contains all of your DNS settings; and one or more records, which are actual TXT files that contain information about your email address or domains.

When it comes to configuring your DMARC policy in the record, you’ll have one of three options which are reflected in the "p=" value.

p=none: This tells mailbox providers to take no action on emails that fail authentication. They will most likely be delivered.

p=quarantine: This policy informs mailbox providers to send emails that fail authentication to spam or junk folders. These messages may also be blocked.

p=reject: This is the strongest DMARC policy value. It ensures all malicious email is stopped dead in its tracks.

So why would a sender have a policy of "p=none"? It seems to defeat the primary purpose of implementing DMARC in the first place.

Another reason many brands don’t want to deploy DMARC is that it requires a lot of work and can be difficult to get right. You also need to be able to get the policy activated and monitored properly.

Let’s look at how DMARC works and what you can do to get your email marketing up and running with it.

DMARC and email deliverability

The DMARC-Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (or DMARC) standard is designed to help email senders detect and mitigate spam attacks. It also allows email receivers to do the same.

The goal of DMARC is to improve email deliverability. If you're not able to effectively identify and prevent fraudulent emails in your domain, you can't control your deliverability. This is especially problematic for small businesses who rely on email marketing as a main channel for delivering their message.

By enforcing strict DMARC policies, you'll be better able to identify fraudulent emails and protect yourself from phishing scams.

Email deliverability is a crucial component of any email marketing strategy, and it’s important to understand that there are many factors that can affect your deliverability rate. Having a strong DMARC policy in place is one part of the equation.

DMARC—short for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance—is a relatively new standard for email authentication. The protocol is intended to provide a uniform way for mail servers to determine whether an email message is legitimate or fraudulent. The idea is to make it harder for phishing attacks, spam and other fraudulent messages to reach inboxes.

DMARC relies on two methods of authentication: SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). SPF requires all sending servers to publish an authorized IP address list. DKIM uses cryptographic signatures to prove that the message is authentic and has not been modified during delivery.

Email on Acid deliverability features help you catch some of these issues before you hit send. Plus, Pathwire’s deliverability solutions provide email validation and valuable insights through Inbox Placement. Together, our solutions can help email marketers gain control of deliverability.

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